COMPANY NEWS; WET SEAL HIRES ADVISER TO HELP EXPLORE ALTERNATIVES

Published: September 17, 2004

Wet Seal Inc., the struggling retailer of teenage apparel, said yesterday that it had hired Rothschild Inc. as a financial adviser to help it explore strategic alternatives. A representative for Wet Seal said that Rothschild would serve as an adviser to a special committee, which has not yet made a decision about the company's alternatives. Wet Seal, which is based in Foothill Ranch, Calif., said last month that it was appointing the special committee to analyze alternatives to enhance shareholder value. Rothschild, a restructuring and bankruptcy adviser based in New York, is a unit of N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd.